I have a disability that causes me to get overwhelmed easily, and, as a result, I only attend school part time. I typically do two classes a quarter (which translates to eight credits since a typical class is four credits at my school.) However, I am considering taking only one class (four credits) in the summer. I read online that you must do a minimum of six credits to be eligible for financial aid. Is there a way that I could get a special circumstance to be able to take only one class over the summer?
Some schools don’t give aid for summer courses…at all. So start there.
My opinion…the likelihood of you getting need based aid to fund ONE course isn’t very high. In addition, if you DID get any aid, it would be prorated based on the number of credits you ARE taking.
How much do you need to pay for this one course?
Contact the Financial Aid office at the school. My guess is that it would be unlikely that you could get aid for one summer class but if you have a documented disability that requires you taking fewer classes per semester it doesn’t hurt to ask.
You need to know how many courses are considered full time in the summer. It may be that 6 credits is full time, so 4 credits is more than half time. Talk to your FA office.
You may very well be able to borrow with 4 credits in the summer, as long as you still have annual loan eligibility remaining for the year (but not if you used it all for fall/winter). Summer half-time is often a reduced course load. If you have Pell, you’ll be able to receive Pell for 4 credits in the summer.